Judge orders Belmont Middle School land trial to begin May 6

Thursday

A federal court judge in Charlotte has ordered that a trial regarding the controversial new Belmont Middle School land purchase will still take place early next month.

It means that the civil lawsuit filed by Matt Beckham and his Mount Holly-based MB Realty Group against The Carstarphen Family Foundation, The Stowe Foundation, Gaston County Commissioner Tracy Philbeck and former Gaston County Board of Education member Catherine Roberts will head to a May 6 trial at the federal courthouse in Charlotte.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Frank D. Whitney’s order comes one day after both plaintiffs and defendants jointly agreed to file a motion to halt further court proceedings, a motion which Whitney denied on Thursday. That motion was made in an effort to prevent costly and time-consuming trial preparations for the parties involved, since the plaintiff’s intend to appeal Whitney’s decision to dismiss Beckham's claims against the Gaston County school board and county government to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Whitney also had dismissed other aspects of the complaints against the other defendants.

“The court finds that it would best serve judicial economy to proceed with the case for the May 6 trial term,” Whitney stated in his order.

On April 10, Whitney granted motions for summary judgment to fully dismiss plaintiff MB Realty Group’s claims against defendants Gaston County and the Gaston County Board of Education.

Whitney partially dismissed MB Realty's claims against the other defendants in the case, the Carstarphen Family Foundation, The Stowe Foundation, Philbeck and Roberts. Beckham’s claims against defendant Superintendent of Schools Jeff Booker were dismissed at an earlier date.

Beckham and MB Realty’s attorney, James Galvin, told The Gaston Gazette on Wednesday that his client seeks to “have the trial with all the proper parties.”

In July 2017, Beckham sued the defendants for allegedly cutting him and MB Realty group out of a deal that he was brokering for Gaston County to purchase 78 acres of land on South Point Road on which to build a replacement for the more than 80-year-old Belmont Middle School. The property was owned jointly by the Carstarphen and Stowe foundations.

Beckham claims that he lost out on more than $400,000 in profits and sales commission after the plaintiffs acted “in concert and with the purposeful intent to remove the plaintiff from the sale of the property.” Beckham seeks monetary damages on claims of fraud, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, antitrust violation, unjust enrichment and libel.

On Oct. 3, 2016, MB Realty entered into contract with the foundations to sell the property for $5.1 million, regardless whether it was to the county or another buyer.

But the county did not commit to the purchase of the property after commissioners and the school board squabbled over the price and other concerns. MB Realty failed to close on the property, and its contract with the foundations expired following several extensions on May 16, 2017.

Ultimately, the county purchased the land from the foundations for $4.2 million after the landowners lowered the price and the city of Belmont agreed to pay $400,000 toward the purchase in exchange for long term use of the new middle school’s recreation facilities. Beckham and MB Realty were not involved in those negotiations to purchase the property and were not paid any fees.

The foundations have long claimed that Beckham and MB Realty failed to act in accordance with the terms of the contract. A statement from the foundations filed in court on Wednesday reads:

“The foundations anticipate calling multiple witnesses who will testify that the foundations were ready, willing and able to sell the property to MB Realty per the terms of the contract at all points in time between the time the contract was executed on or about Oct. 3, 2016, until its termination on May 16, 2017. The foundations will put on evidence that they fulfilled their obligations under the contract. They will also put on evidence that, despite requesting multiple occasions that MB Realty schedule a closing, and despite voluntarily extending the outside closing date for closing by 14 days, MB Realty never made any effort to close on the purchase of the property. The evidence will show that plaintiffs had the financial ability to purchase the property but unilaterally elected not to do so. Finally, the foundations will put on evidence that, after MB Realty’s repeated failure to close on the transaction, they properly terminated the contract.”

Construction on the new $34 million Belmont Middle School began earlier this year, and the school is expected to open during the 2021-2022 school year.

You can reach Eric Wildstein at 704-869-1828 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteEric.

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